hello in case of a stealing what people can do after it was locked ? i’m seeing everywhere people saying they can unlock icloud bla-bla-bla surely a lot of scams but is it really 100% ? I also see people mentioning long time like 9-15 days, probably because they’re trying to phish the owner i’ve also seen techniques where they send fake bills to apple but i don’t think apple can fall in is kind of traps the last thing I see is people “who knows someone who can replace the chip” but since the ID is in the soc and soc/motherboard is worth the price of the phone … and even if they can bypass it it will be network locks so why steal iphones in 2023 ?

  • AgentAaron@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    My daughter’s friend’s phone was just recently stolen at a music festival in Orlando. The next morning it showed it was in Miami. It then disappeared for a couple days, then she started getting messages from China where the phone was showing a location again. The messages started out asking her for the code, then turned pretty violent in nature. Honestly, it was kind of laughable…they asked for my advice and I told her not to give them the password or remove her account.

    I think if they can scare people into removing their iCloud account, they can sell the phone. If you refuse to unlock it, all they can do is strip it and sell it for parts.

    I have read in several countries that people will hold you at gunpoint and drain your accounts right in front of you. I do have several cards in my Apple/Google pay but whenever we travel, I usually either uninstall most of the apps (or hide them from the app drawer in Android).

  • UGMadness@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    These security measures don’t actually deter the theft itself. The opportunity cost is simply too big, even if only one in 5 people are intimidated enough by the threats to unlock their phone, that still makes it worthwhile to steal iPhones.

  • Whiplash104@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    Most stolen phones end up in Shenzen China and stripped for parts or in the hands of a scammer that will try to trick the original owner into unlocking the phone via blackmail, threats, or phishing. Others wait to see your passcode then steal them so they can hijack your iCloud account. There was a short documentary on where the phones go. I don’t recall where so saw it.

  • Dear-Entertainment20@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    https://preview.redd.it/5hb5pywgee3c1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1879e04fe189425f9c77fe212fc1196c95af6090

    Well there’s this MDM bypass. I saw online. Not sure what it means but it may be similar to a situation that happened to my sister when she lost her iPhone X years ago

    She had icloud and then the thief called the emergency contact and told her that she would return the phone. There were no links, nothing was clicked.

    Then after the call, the phone disappeared from her iCloud. We even chatted apple to see what was going on and they said that its not linked to her account at all and that they cannot do anything.

    :(

    • HauntingReddit88@alien.topB
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      9 months ago

      MDM is different from iCloud/Activation Lock - MDM is easily bypassable, it’s just a company lock

      But the iPhone X is checkm8able, so that’s probably what happened to that one

  • Formal-Sympathy9035@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    Because there is a demand from others buying IPhones for half the market price. And some of them complain then on reddit.

  • UnfairStruggle5370@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    my iPhone XS Max got stolen last year, the thief got into my iPhone and had stolen some of my e-wallet funds. I also thought iPhones were unbypassable. I think they used a tool of some sort to do that.

  • MaccasChicken@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    I recall my SE 2nd Generation was stolen here in Philippines. Asking for ransom for them to return the device. They can’t be called since they are using free Facebook (it uses free data for Facebook but just for browsing). They claim the signal is so slow so it will be hard for them to call them out. They will threat you that you need to send money for them to return or they will bypass the device but at the end of the day they will not return the device.

    Fuck those thieves. They must be executed in public.

  • rabbitkingdom@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    My gf just got her phone stolen and listed my number when she put it into lost mode. I got a scam text pretending to be Apple saying her iPhone had been found and directing to a link. The link then asked for the passcode of the phone and then redirected to a fake Apple ID sign-in page.

    https://preview.redd.it/ci6s3xialh3c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5a3d17e00ba0ca4f4adc118f836dc74e2a6236b9

    I’m sure enough people fall for this to still make it worth it.

  • MaxTrixLe@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    They will sell it to some sucker who doesn’t know how to buy used electronics, or break it down for parts that are reusable

  • davemoedee@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    Because people have apps on their phone that can facilitate identity theft. Just threaten them and force them to unlock the phone. There is organized crime that knows what they are doing.

    Or resell to a sucker.

  • TWYFAN97@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    Half of the time stolen iPhones are listed for sale to try and scam people into thinking they are getting a good deal on an iPhone yet it will be basically useless for a new owner since it will be backlisted among other things.

    The other main reason which is far less profitable for thieves is to part out stolen iPhones but thanks to apples efforts to serialize parts and in some cases basically disable them from working as intended (which also hurts right to repair efforts) that’s if you can safely extract them from the phone to begin with become basically useless on another iPhone and the fact the parts are obviously no longer new OEM and could be damaged as well.

    A third reason comes down to criminals being stupid and not many realizing the hassle it takes to make any amount of profit off a stolen iPhone and how locked down a stolen iPhone is in actuality.

  • rantotthus1222@alien.topB
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    9 months ago

    Dumb people steal phones. I think they don’t even know about icloud lock at the moment of stealing, they find out later.